NIGERIA is now ranked 42nd in the latest ranking released by world football governing body, FIFA, yesterday. This latest ranking shows that the three-time African champions have lost two places from their rating announced at the end of October.
The Super Eagles were involved in two competitive matches in November, drawing their first two 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zimbabwe – two nations below them in the FIFA rankings.
The Super Eagles are the sixth best team in Africa behind Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt. Nigeria’s Group C rivals in the 2026 World Cup African qualifying series, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho are ranked 66th, 97th, 124th, 133rd and 148th respectively.
The Super Eagles’ Africa Cup of Nations group opponents Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau are ranked 50th, 88th and 103rd respectively.
Although Argentina (1st) still leads the way ahead of France (2nd), England (3rd, up 1) is now in the trio of teams at the front of the pack, followed by Belgium (4th, up 1), who have also climbed one place.
Although Brazil (5th, down 2) have lost ground following back-to-back defeats by Colombia and Argentina, they have clung on to their place in the top 5.
The Netherlands (6th, up 1) and Portugal (7th, down 1) have traded places in the top 10, which is once again completed by Spain (8th), Italy (9th) and Croatia (10th).
Uruguay (11th, up 4) have made solid progress, but they have to be content with a place just outside the top 10.
The Comoros Islands (119th, up 9), meanwhile, enjoyed an even better month with wins against the Central African Republic and Ghana, and have two reasons to celebrate as they are now in 119th place, their highest-ever position.
Kosovo (101st, up 4) may not have climbed as many positions as the Comorans, but the Kosovans are also now higher in the ranking than ever before.
Guinea-Bissau (103rd, up 7), Azerbaijan (114th, up 6), Libya (120th, up 6), Malaysia (130th, up 7) and Rwanda (133rd, up 7) are the other big movers in the November ranking.
The ranking also had the re-entry of Samoa (187th), American Samoa (188th) and Tonga (196th), who were all playing international football again following months of inactivity.
The ranking took into consideration FIFA World Cup qualifiers that took place in African countries as well as in Asia and South America.
The other confederations’ schedules considered included UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying matches, Concacaf Nations League 2023-24 encounters and the Pacific Games 2023.
These matches all had a significant effect on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, including on the make-up of the podium.